GUISBOROUGH Town bounced back superbly from their unexpected midweek FA Vase defeat at home to Team Northumbria by turning the tables on runaway league leaders Morpeth with a 4-1 win last Saturday.

With the visitors setting the pace at the top of the league with a 10-point lead over Guisborough, it was vital for the Priorymen to produce something special to peg back the Northumbrians.

Some of the football they played was a delight to watch as they re-discovered their fluent passing game.

Guisborough quickly rose to the challenge, with their first goal coming after just three minutes. Left back Danny McWilliams played a ball down the left wing and Curtis Round, looking much more like his old dashing self, turned the ball beautifully into the middle for Steve Snaith to make no mistake from a couple of yards out.

A determined Guisborough continued to dominate the game, but had to wait until the 37th minute to double their lead when Snaith controlled the ball and turned in the blink of an eye before bearing down menacingly on the Morpeth goal. He was bundled over for a penalty and Danny Earl stepped up to convert the spot kick with an unstoppable low shot into the left corner.

Morpeth pulled it back to 2-1 just three minutes into the second half when Michael Chilton shot home from the edge of the box after Guisborough failed to clear a cross. For the next 20 minutes or so, Morpeth asserted themselves much more than they had done in the first half, but for all their possession and probing the Guisborough defence coped well and soaked up all the pressure.

Leon Carling and Andrew May in particular were superb at the heart of the Guisborough defence.

Guisborough restored their two-goal cushion in the 58th minute when Snaith turned provider again to set up Earl, who rifled the ball home.

Right at the end, Round hit one of his trademark shots from just outside the area which arrowed unerringly and powerfully into the net.

It was a tremendous performance by the Priorymen which delighted manager Chris Hardy, who said: “Today's result proved to be a fantastic reaction from the players after the disappointment of Wednesday night’s FA Vase exit. A first half that could easily have seen us four goals to the good was characterised by our trademark free-flowing approach, which saw us take a deserved two-goal lead into the interval.

“On reflection, our overall game execution deserved a 10 out of 10 today, in the respect that we got our noses in front with some excellent football and then in the second half, when game management was required, the lads carried this out in a very professional manner."

This was a vastly-improved performance by the Priorymen which has put them well and truly back in the title hunt.